A Brief History of the Internet

By: Keith Hearne

In the late 1960s a group of researchers at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) were investigating the importance of the networking concept of packet switching (transporting information between computers). This, coupled with the idea of a Galactic Network put to them by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), became the seed from which the Internet came into being. However, it wasn't until 1973 that DARPA began work on a project known as 'the Internetting Project' whose objective it was to design and develop communication protocols (sets of rules), which would allow networked computers to communicate transparently with each other. The result of this project was the creation of a system of protocols known as TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol), this protocol suite forms the backbone of the Internet today.

The use of TCP/IP became more widespread over time; its growth was aided by the fact that the software was public domain, that is, accessible by everyone, and the basic technology was decentralized. This meant that people could link up to other networks of computers that were also in the public domain. Entire networks fell into the digital embrace of the Internet, forming a branching complex of networks. Just as the phone network had done so before, the computer network began to generate more and more revenue, and became more valuable as it encompassed larger territories of computers and resources.

The Internet's growth and popularity was greatly helped in the 1980's by a number of groups, some of which became commercial network providers investing in the development of the major backbone and connectivity of computer networks. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Office of Advanced Scientific Computing initiated this move in 1986. The new NSFNET set a blistering pace for technical advancement, linking newer, faster, shinier supercomputers, through thicker, faster links, upgraded and expanded, again and again, in 1986, 1988, and 1990. American government agencies such as NASA, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy also came on board, each of them maintaining a digital satrapy in the Internet confederation.
A node is a computer on the network and as the nodes in the network grew and spread geographically it became necessary to divide domains logically, hence the naming suffixes we have today. For example, .ie for Ireland, .co.uk for companies in the UK, and so on for different geographical locations around the world. This added to the six basic Internet domains: .gov, .mil, .edu, .com, .org and .net.

* Gov, mil and edu - denote governmental, military and educational institutions, which were the pioneers, since the Internet had begun as a high-tech research exercise in national security.
* Com - stands for commercial institutions, the most popular prefix today.
* Org - non profit organizations.
* Net - gateways between other networks.

In 1971, thirty-one years ago, there were only four nodes in the Internet network. Today there are millions of them, scattered over practically every country in the world with millions if not billions of users. In the early 1990's the Internet experienced a rapid growth rate, which by technology standards probably has not been equalled, and could only be compared with the recent explosion of mobile phones. The Internet has infiltrated and almost inadvertently permeated into everyday life in modern society, with people doing everything from buying to learning on the Internet.
Despite its humble origins the Internet looks like it is firmly integrated into society today, and is here to stay.

For further information, or for more in depth history of the Internet check out the following websites:

Brief History of Related Networks
Brief History of the Net
Internet & Web History